See what pure narcissism
brings forth: a great rot
in the communal apple.
The body politic
spoils top to bottom
and back again.
Every inequity
becomes deadly
as a snake.
We have long since
been thrown out
of the garden.
We roam streets
like zombies
in search of medicine
and care.
How can we be
one family
and not hug
our neighbors
as ourselves?
Pathogens know
our vulnerabilities
and strike
with clear knives.
In the dark night
we become
what we do
for one another.
David Radavich's latest narrative collection is America Abroad: An Epic of Discovery (2019), companion volume to his earlier America Bound: An Epic for Our Time (2007). Recent lyric collections are Middle-East Mezze (2011) and The Countries We Live In (2014). His plays have been performed across the U.S. and in Europe.
